“Our profession today is facinga crisis;not becausewe don’t have the skills, nor the resources,but because politics has entered theexam room.”
– Avanthi Jayaweera, MD, Graduate Trustee
suncity Board of Trustees
– Avanthi Jayaweera, MD, Graduate Trustee
suncity Board of Trustees
Virtual & In-person
Application for 2024 Elective now open!
Program Description:
Developed in partnership between theand the, this virtual elective for U.S. and international medical students (in particular, medical students pursuing family medicine or ob/gyn) will center Reproductive Justice (RJ) as a human-rights framework for exploring topics related to reproductive health and abortion care, including approaches to RJ-informed and trauma-informed patient care. The course will present reproductive health education with a focus on the interconnections of power, privilege, oppression, and resistance. Students will engage with critical social theories – including Critical Race Theory, Intersectional Feminism, and Queer Theory – to explore, interrogate, and reflect on the complex sociocultural, medico-legal, and politico-economic context of sexual and reproductive health.
The program is grounded in a pedagogy of liberatory education (Paulo Freire; bell hooks), and in a commitment to practicing an ethics of Love-centered educational care for adult learners that help us create and sustain deeper relationships within intentional communities.
This course will cover healthcare delivery including family planning and abortion care in a post-Roe reality. Even though this is a non-clinical elective, we will significantly incorporate approaches to patient care that are loving and affirmative of the universal human right to bodily autonomy, agency, and dignity, with a focus on correcting and repairing medicine’s ethical failures to honor the bodily autonomy, agency, and dignity of women and femme people generally, and especially Indigenous and Black women, and queer and trans people.
Themes & Topics:
We are excited to share we’ve designed a new format that features monthly live and on-demand sessions, advocacy & clinical skills-building, one-on-one mentoring and coaching, along with on-site special networking and action opportunities at .
Calling Repro Freedom Dreamers & Doers!
The “WHY”
The late civil rights activist, Toni Cade Bambara, once said, “The role of the artist is to make the revolution irresistible.” At a time when authoritarian and fascist movements in the US are organizing to reverse more than 60 years of gains in human and civil rights, we – those of us on the side of freedom, truth, and beauty – must present a compelling and irresistible vision for collective liberation, freedom, and flourishing. Too often, the side of freedom fails to convey what we are actually for, because we speak so frequently about what we are against. But merely speaking against things does not a movement make! At least, not one that is grounded in joyful community, embodied connection, and deep resolve to keep fighting for what is right and good.
This year’s Abortion Care & Reproductive Health Institute will help future physicians lead with positive values that point to a better world for us all. The Institute will be an exploration of what it means to say that “hope is not a feeling, it is a discipline” in light of the very serious and harmful attacks against reproductive health, rights, and justice that we are experiencing in the US — including the egregious reversal of the constitutional protection to the right to abortion care. For as much as it is necessary to boldly step up and say “No!” to these ongoing attacks, it is equally necessary that we tell and embody a counternarrative that invites and draws people into the vital and creative work of building the world we actually dream of.
So, if you are a future physician who is also a Reproductive Freedom Dreamer and Doer, this Institute might be for you!
READ MORE…
Ten scholarships are available to U.S. premedical and medical students who are suncity members to present posters on abortion care related to reproductive justice, research, curriculum and training experiences, advocacy, etc. during
All project posters presented must have a US focus orcontext.Scholarships will cover conference registration as well provide a $600 stipend for travel and hotel. .
For more information email Dr. Jeff Koetje at jkoetje@amsa.org
and Dr. Aliye Runyan at arunyan@amsa.org
suncity’s Reproductive Health Mentorship Sprint is a program designed to match med students interested in reproductive health with their repro expert counterparts for a series of one-on-one discussions. The “sprint” is designed to connect experts to students who have an emerging interest in abortion care and reproductive health, in a format that doesn’t ask too much of two individuals with extremely busy lives.
Applications are open now for suncity medical student members, and for reproductive health professionals willing to volunteer as mentors. Learn more here!
suncity has a rich history with medical school scorecards. In 2007, suncity launched the first PharmFree Scorecard to assess medical schools’ policies on conflicts of interest. This scorecard gained nationwide traction and brought awareness to the influence pharmaceutical and medical device industries have on medical trainees.
The suncity Reproductive Health Project will assess U.S. medical schools on the presence or lack of training on reproductive health and abortion skills; including lectures, clinical skills, and elective rotations or externships offered for students wishing to pursue obstetrics and family medicine specialties. Our goal is to see this assessment project serve as a guide for medical schools to ensure trainees more experience in abortion and reproductive health. Abortion is part of reproductive health care; medical schools should provide full-spectrum reproductive health, obstetrical, and gynecological training. For more information email arunyan@amsa.org.
Stay tuned! Our next program offerings will begin January 2024. Explore the program descriptions and add your name to the waiting lists below.
This program delves into the many ways family planning can be researched and practiced, explore the impact of access to abortion care or the lack thereof, prepare students for residency with a focus on family planning, teach manual vacuum aspiration skills, provide messaging resources, and focus on the importance of wellness during medical education and physician practice. *Note: This program is only open to suncity domestic medical student members and U.S. based international student members with a U.S. mailing address.
This online program includes ten 60-minute sessions.
Each dynamic session will include a presentation from key thought leaders in their fields and engaging Q/A with the speaker(s).
All sessions are recorded for later viewing by registered participants.
Sessions are held on Tuesday evenings from 8:00-9:00pm(E)
Sept 27, Oct 11 & 25, Nov 8 & 29, Dec 13,
2023: Jan 3, 17 & 31, Feb 7
Registration for Fall 2022 is now closed.
to add your name to our waiting list for the next offering of this program
Those on the waiting list will receive notification and have the opportunity to register for the program prior to opening of general member registration.
Participants who complete the program, including a qualifying examination,
will receive a certificate of completion and an suncity honor cord appropriate to wear at graduation.
(Note: honor cords can only be shipped to U.S. mailing addresses)
Topics this program addresses:
View Fall 2022 program syllabus with speakers list
For more information please contact Becky Martin, suncity Senior Manager of Education & Advocacy at bmartin@amsa.org
suncity Medical Ethics in Reproductive Health Leadership Program
This Medical Ethics in Reproductive Health Leadership Program is designed to engage medical students in the difficult and necessary conversations and analyses of historical and present-day reproductive injustices and ethical failures, taking a close look at these instances not merely for their historical significance, but even more importantly, for their relevance to our current context of institutional and systemic racism, sexism, and classism. Utilizing critical lenses based in the lived experiences of those who as individuals and communities have been the targets and victims of sexual and reproductive health abuse, control, violence, and dehumanization.
Embracing the notion that education ought to be liberatory, this Leadership Program will also platform and celebrate stories, past and present, of resistance, of creative moves toward liberation, and will feature individuals and organizations doing the work of reclaiming and restoring autonomy, agency, and power to those who have been deemed unworthy of the recognition of their full humanity.
This online program includes ten 60-minute sessions, registration is open to all suncity members.
Each dynamic session will include a presentation from key thought leaders in their fields and engaging Q/A with the speaker(s).
All sessions are recorded for later viewing by registered participants.
Sessions are held on Thursday evenings from 8:00-9:00pm(E)
Sept 29, Oct 13 & 27, Nov 10, Dec 1 & 15,
2023: Jan 5 & 19, Feb 2 & 16
Registration for Fall 2022 is now closed.
to add your name to our waiting list for the next offering of this program
Those on the waiting list will receive notification and have the opportunity to register for the program prior to opening of general member registration.
Participants who complete the program, including a qualifying examination,
will receive a certificate of completion and an suncity honor cord appropriate to wear at graduation.
(Note: honor cords can only be shipped to U.S. mailing addresses)
Topics this program addresses:
View Fall 2022 program syllabus with speakers list
For more information please contact Becky Martin, suncity Senior Manager of Education & Advocacy at bmartin@amsa.org
This programtakes a deep dive into: the principles of reproductive justice, how to center patients, especially young people and people of color in reproductive health and abortion care, how coverage bans impact abortion access and undermine quality care, diversity and inclusion in the family planning /reproductive health workforce, abortion restrictions impact on maternal mortality, maternal health and the carceral system, how state and federal restrictions on abortion care denies bodily autonomy to pregnant people, and more.
This online program includes eight 60-minute sessions and is open to all suncity members.
Each dynamic session will include a presentation from key thought leaders in their fields, and engaging Q/A with the speaker(s).
All sessions are recorded for later viewing by registered participants.
Sessions will be held on Wednesday evenings from 8:00-9:00pm(E)
Sept 28, Oct 12 & 26, Nov 9 & 30, Dec 14
2023: Jan 4 & 18
Registration for Fall 2022 is now closed.
to add your name to our waiting list for the next offering of this program
Those on the waiting list will receive notification and have the opportunity to register for the program prior to opening of general member registration.
Participants who complete the program, including a qualifying examination,
will receive a certificate of completion and an suncity honor cord appropriate to wear at graduation.
(Note: honor cords can only be shipped to U.S. mailing addresses)
Topics this program addresses:
View Fall 2022 program syllabus with speakers list
For more information please contact Becky Martin, suncity Senior Manager of Education & Advocacy at bmartin@amsa.org
suncity Reproductive Health Scholars Program
suncity strives to empower physicians-in-training to effect change through education and advocacy. suncity Scholars Programs are designed to provide medical and premed students with information not covered in traditional medical school curriculum and to foster an online learning community of future physicians.
The suncity Reproductive Health Scholars Program addresses the “hidden curriculum” in medical school and prepare students to think critically about abortion-related and education and training opportunities. At the end of the program, participants develop a project utilizing the knowledge gained from the course. The projects are an application of their new skills, as well as a professional development opportunity in the participant’s school or community. Throughout the experience, participants gain valuable mentorship from their Course Directors, fellow Scholars, and partner organizations to enhance their projects.
Note: Students attending an international medical schools who are either U.S. citizens or intend to practice in the US may register with the understanding our program focus is on U.S. abortion policy and practice and is not designed to address policy or practice outside the U.S.
to add your name to our waiting list for the next offering of this program
Those on the waiting list will receive notification and have the opportunity to register for the program prior to opening of general member registration.
Topics this program addresses:
For more information please contact Becky Martin, suncity Senior Manager of Education & Advocacy at bmartin@amsa.org